The present invention concerns a linear guide system for a slide-out member in a drawer system, a baking oven or the like.
The linear guide system according to the invention is suitable for any kind of slide-out members such as drawers, computer racks and other sliding members which are fixed in a cupboard or carcass and which are moved in and out. The invention however is quite particularly suitable for holding and guiding supports for items to be cooked in baking ovens. The term “supports for items to be cooked” which in the sense of this invention represent a slide-out member is used to denote all insert sliding members which are usually employed in baking ovens such as baking sheets, grills, baking pans, drip pans as well as holders for such sliding members, such as for example frames into which such supports for items to be cooked can be inserted or on which they can be placed.
In the context of this application the guide system according to the invention for a slide-out member is described primarily for supports for items to be cooked or similar insert sliding members in an oven. It will be clear however that the present invention is not limited to guide systems for baking ovens but also embraces within the scope of the appended claims other uses in respect of which corresponding guide systems can be used in a suitable fashion.
Sliding member guide systems for supports for items to be cooked in baking ovens are known in many different forms. In simple known ovens the support for items to be cooked is guided in grooves provided at different heights or levels in the side wall of the oven. The sliding characteristics of the supports for the items to be cooked in such grooves depend on the surface nature of the surfaces which slide against each other and the loading on the support for the items to be cooked and are comparatively poor. In other systems, instead of the grooves, grids with horizontal bars are fixed to the side walls of the oven, with the supports for the items to be cooked being guided on the bars. Here the sliding characteristics are improved somewhat in comparison with grooves, by virtue of the smaller support contact area. Both systems suffer from the disadvantage that the support for the items to be cooked can be pulled out of the oven only as far as a given distance without it tilting downwardly or having to be supported at the front. In improved ovens, telescopic guides are provided at the side wall of the oven or on a grid, wherein the telescopic guides each have a respective stationary rail and one or more movable rails which are mounted slidably in the longitudinal direction relative to the stationary rail and out of the oven. A support for items to be cooked can be placed on the movable rails so that, by pulling the telescopic guides out of the oven, the support can be pulled out. Telescopic guides are characterised in that the individual rail elements which are supported slidably relative to each other are of substantially the same or at least similar length. In the case of a so-called partial slide-out member which includes one stationary rail and one movable rail, the telescopic guide, by virtue of the ball bearing arrangements provided and so that the individual rail elements do not become separated from each other, can be extended out only as far as a length which is less than double the length of the rails in the fully retracted condition. In the case of the so-called full slide-out arrangement, two or more movable rail elements are supported slidably with respect to the stationary rail element. A telescopic guide which in the form of a full slide-out arrangement can be extended to double the length of the completely retracted condition or beyond same.
DE 101 51 899.4 A1 describes a rail system for supports for items to be cooked in an oven comprising a support for items to be cooked which on each of two sides has respective holding loops which in the front portion of the support for the items to be cooked are connected to the support by way of a connecting portion of a substantially U-shaped configuration, and which extend substantially parallel to the respective side edges of the support for the items to be cooked, and comprising telescopic rails which respectively have a stationary rail fixed to or behind the side wall of the baking oven muffle and an inner rail which is slidable relative to the stationary rail out of the baking oven, wherein provided on the inner rail is a receiving tube which extends substantially over the length of the inner rail and which forms a unit therewith and which is open in the direction of the baking oven opening and which is adapted to receive the holding loop by insertion therein, wherein the holding loop has a hook and the receiving tube has a latching apparatus in the form of a recess or opening to prevent the holding loop from sliding out of the receiving tube. That system provides a structure which can be produced inexpensively and which allows the support for items to be cooked to be pulled out of the oven to a position in front thereof in a stable fashion with an easy sliding movement and without the support tilting. The telescopic rails in that system are very substantially protected from fouling by items being cooked and sprayed fat or fat vapours or other liquids. It will be noted however that the system suffers from the disadvantage that the entire receiving tube in which the holding loop is arrested moves out of and projects from the oven when the support for the items being cooked is pulled out. When the support for the items to be cooked, for removal from the oven, is firstly pulled out with the receiving tube and then removed therefrom, the receiving tube remains projecting in front of the oven and has to be pushed in again by hand in order to close the oven. If the support, for removal from the oven, is released from the receiving tube while the latter is in the inward position, there is the danger that, by virtue of the ease with which it moves, the receiving tube is also pulled out of the oven when the holding loop is pulled out, and then also has to be pushed back in again after removal of the support therefrom. As a respective receiving tube is provided on each of the two sides of the support for the items to be cooked, there is the further problem that, when inserting the support, one receiving tube is moved further out of the oven and another receiving tube is moved further thereinto, or that occurs when inserting the support for the items to be cooked, and that considerably increases the difficulty of inserting the support.